Journalist Portfolio

Why we need PrEP – Four Gay Men Share Their Views

Published: 4/08/2015

Health sector charities have issued a rallying call for the HIV prevention drug, Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP), to be made available as soon as possible to those who need it. The community statement, led by a coalition of HIV organisations, including the National Aids Trust, the Terrence Higgins Trust, GMFA and the LGBT Foundation, comes at a time of rising transmissions among gay men.

With 3,250 gay men diagnosed in 2013, the highest figure for decades, men who have sex with men remain the most at risk to HIV infections. A quarter of those living with HIV don’t realise they have it, while in London an estimated one in eight gay men are living with the virus. With STDs like gonorrhoea and syphilis registering a rise in 2014 the situation is expected to worsen.